On his travels through the savage mountainous terrain of the Caucasus, the unnamed narrator of "A Hero of Our Time" chances upon the veteran soldier Maxim Maximych, who relates to him the dubious exploits of his former comrade Pechorin. Engaging in various acts of dueling, contraband, abduction and seduction, Pechorin, an archetypal Byronic anti-hero, combines cynicism and arrogance with melancholy and sensitivity.